Michigan Has Turned the Ohio State Rivalry On Its Head [View all]

Michigan Has Turned the Ohio State Rivalry On Its Head

BY ALEX KIRSHNER
NOV 26, 20225:37 PM


(Slate) Since around the turn of the century, Ohio State has dominated Michigan in The Game, college football’s most marketable and arguably most intense rivalry. Somewhere in the course of winning 15 times in 16 years, and denying Michigan any victories in Columbus since 2000, the Buckeyes cultivated not just a competitive advantage, but a psychological one. This manifested time and again on the field, when Michigan looked to have things in hand against Ohio State and then let them slip away inexplicably. (Granted, in many other years, Ohio State just romped.) But it also manifested hundreds of miles away from the field, in the collective psyche of everyone who cares about Michigan. The Wolverines’ inability to beat the Buckeyes in football made all of their fans miserable about college sports on a near-permanent basis. Futility in The Game denied Michigan fans the ability to believe that anything good was possible.

Saturday confirmed times have changed: Michigan 45, Ohio State 23, in front of about 107,000 mostly infuriated Midwesterners at the Horseshoe in Columbus. In an all-unbeaten clash, Michigan looked out of its element in the first quarter but gradually gained steam. By the closing ticks of the clock, it was the Buckeyes who were melting down.

This one made two wins in a row for Michigan in the only game that matters. It was a different story than in 2021, when Michigan came out with a particular agenda and imposed its will in a uniformed fashion all afternoon. But it seemed possible that was a one-year anomaly, and Ohio State would show up on Saturday having adjusted its plan and gotten itself into a position to nuke the Wolverines out of the College Football Playoff. Instead, Michigan spent the afternoon doing what Ohio State has spent most of the last 20 years doing to Michigan: squeezing the will to live out of its rival, and quite possibly killing its national championship dreams in the process.

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Saturday’s Michigan win promises to be even more demoralizing for the medium-sized country otherwise known as “Ohio State fandom.” This Buckeyes loss came about differently because of how out of its depth Ohio State (and its coaching staff in particular) looked when it had a chance to win. Ohio State acted like Michigan used to act, and the Wolverines were happy to take the favors and cruise to victory. ................(more)

https://slate.com/culture/2022/11/michigan-win-ohio-state-rivalry-turned-upside-down.html